BACKGROUND Sleep, physical activity, screen time and dietary behaviours influence health during childhood, but few studies have looked at all of these behaviours simultaneously and previous research has relied predominantly on self- or proxy-reports of physical activity and food frequency questionnaires for the assessment of diet. PURPOSE To assess the prevalence and clustering of health beha...

Preclinical and some clinical studies suggest a relationship between perturbation in magnesium (Mg(2+)) homeostasis and pathological anxiety, although the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Since there is evidence that Mg(2+) modulates the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, we tested whether enhanced anxiety-like behaviour can be reliably elicited by dietary Mg(2+) deficiency...

Adults who attempt to restrict their dietary intake also tend to perform worse on a range of cognitive tasks. However, the extent to which this finding generalises to children has remained unclear. Following studies involving adults, we asked 44 girls (mean age = 10.1 years) to complete a simple reaction-time task and the Tower of London task. This group was selected from a local community scho...

The rising tide of obesity has led to a resurgence of interest in dietary strategies to prevent excess weight gain. Data from controlled intervention studies is sparse, but nonetheless evidence from other diverse sources has identified a number of specific dietary factors and aspects of eating behaviour that either promote or protect against obesity. The present paper reviews the evidence in re...

Excess intake of dietary salt is estimated to be one of the leading risks to health worldwide. Major national and international health organizations, along with many governments around the world, have called for reductions in the consumption of dietary salt. This paper discusses behavioural and population interventions as mechanisms to reduce dietary salt. In developed countries, salt added dur...

N-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA), particularly docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA), are the most important with physiological significance in brain function of all vertebrates. Recently, novel lipid sources available for industry, including products obtained from microorganisms. Dietary profiles may affect tissue composition and cell functioning. To determine effect on behav...

The Dietary Guideline Index, a measure of diet quality, was updated to reflect the 2013 Australian Dietary Guidelines. This paper describes the revision of the index (DGI-2013) and examines its use in older adults. The DGI-2013 consists of 13 components reflecting food-based daily intake recommendations of the Australian Dietary Guidelines. In this cross-sectional study, the DGI-2013 score was ...

BACKGROUND Dietary intervention to lower serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) is effective, yet underutilised in general practice. OBJECTIVE This report summarises the findings of an expert roundtable convened to review the evidence relating to dietary interventions to lower serum LDL-C. DISCUSSION Interventions that lower LDL-C lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. Comprehensive dietary inter...

BACKGROUND Tooth wear has a multifactorial etiology, thus it should be assessed within a multiple-variable framework. The objective of this investigation was to assess the association of dietary habits and parental-reported sleep tooth grinding (STG) with tooth wear in children with mixed dentition. METHODS One hundred twenty-one (N = 121) subjects (mean age 9.6 years) participated in a cross...